Kyrie Irving Finally Explained His Struggles While Playing In Boston During The NBA Finals
I think it's fair to say that Kyrie Irving isn't exactly well-liked in the city of Boston. Whenever that topic comes up, a lot of people suggest it stems from the time he told a packed TD Garden that he planned on re-signing in Boston, only to immediately end up signing with the Nets instead. Now I don't want to speak for Celtics fans everywhere, but I don't really give a shit about that. I've always put way more stock into what he did in the 2019 playoffs against the Bucks when he essentially tanked the entire series. Horrendous offensive decisions, even worse shooting, deciding he was the guy that was going to wave off teammates so he could defend Giannis by himself with no help, it was a disaster
Coming off all the bullshit he put the team and fans through during the year and then openly sabotaging a playoff series means way more to me than making an empty promise about his next contract. Players lie all the time.
Given the fact he's hated with the fire of a thousand suns, every time Kyrie plays in Boston it's a big deal. It'll probably be that way for the rest of his career, but that's the bed he made. The Bucks series, stepping on Lucky, the sage bullshit, flipping off fans while inbounding the ball, it's not exactly a surprise he finds himself in that position. That's why heading into the Finals, Kyrie's return to Boston with a title on the line was such a big storyline.
As we saw, Kyrie was pretty terrible in the Finals overall, but especially in Boston. Just 14 points per game on 34/17% shooting while taking the second most FGA on the team (17.7), he was pretty much in hell. While we didn't really hear him speak on it in real time, we finally got Kyrie's side of his struggles and what it was like to play in Boston in the Finals
I have to admit, this is probably the most I've respected Kyrie in years. He was accountable, he was honest, and he didn't pull any of his usual tricks when he's pressed about his struggles on the court. That's something we lived through time and time again when he was a Celtic, always deflecting and putting the blame on someone else, so I actually find his stance on the Finals pretty refreshing. Maybe this is him getting older and being more comfortable with who he is, maybe part of it is he knows we all saw what happened and there was no point in spinzoning his play.
Like he said, it's not like he got clamped by a bunch of scrubs. He had to deal with not only the best defensive backcourt in the NBA (fact not opinion), but one of the greatest teams in NBA history (also fact not opinion). See how easy it is to give the Champs their proper credit and respect? If Kyrie can do it then anyone can!
Will this change how he's viewed in Boston? Heavens no. That ship has sailed. But I certainly was surprised that he went this approach compared to what we've heard from Kyrie previously whenever the topic of Boston comes up. Sadly, should they meet again in the Finals he's going to have to do more than just talk about being better, he's going to have to show up and actually play better. Given the two defensive demons he's going to have to deal with combined with the crowd still very clearly being able to get into his head, I don't exactly love his chances.